Posts Tagged: malnutrition

Nutrition, food security and sufficient family incomes are challenges in many parts of the world. Half the world’s people live in rural areas in developing countries. Because hunger and malnutrition are often linked to poverty, providing economic opportunities through horticultural production not only helps family incomes, but also addresses food security and nutrition. Training women to produce and market horticultural crops in the developing world also helps provide a much-needed income stream for families with children.

UC Davis is addressing food security and economic development in Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America, and elsewhere, by coordinating an international horticulture program. The Horticulture Collaborative Research Support Program (Hort CRSP; pronounced "hort crisp") is one of 10 CRSP programs that focus on global food production and solving food and nutrition problems in developing countries. UC Davis leads the Hort CRSP, with funding support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Examples of projects conducted by researchers and educators throughout the world include:

Smallholder flower production in Honduras for export markets; see page 3

The overarching goals of the Hort CRSP are to reduce poverty and improve nutrition and health of the rural poor, while improving the profitability and sustainability of horticulture in the developing world. Priorities in the Hort CRSP include gender equity, sustainable crop production, postharvest technology, food safety, market access, and financing. The program awards research funding in the U.S. and abroad to:

Realize opportunities for horticultural development

Improve food security

Improve nutrition and human health

Provide opportunities for income diversification

Advance economic and social conditions of the rural poor, particularly women

Dr. Elizabeth Mitcham, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis and director of the Hort CRSP, notes, “By harnessing the research, training, and outreach expertise of the land-grant universities in the U.S. to work with partners in developing countries, we can improve horticultural capabilities in much the same way that the land-grant system helped revolutionize American agriculture.”

In the three years since the program’s inception, several projects have been completed, and many are ongoing. The program’s website offers a plethora of information, along with newsletters that highlight individual projects.

The program also has a YouTube channel, with videos on Hort CRSP projects. Some of the videos are about projects that are especially important in developing countries, including:

The TRELLIS project — bringing together graduate students and in-country development organizations; YouTube link

Using cell phones to give real-time information to growers in rural areas of India; YouTube link

UC Davis, ranked first in the U.S. on research related to agriculture, food science and nutrition, and plant and animal science, is positioned to serve global needs related to food and nutrition. Of the 10 CRSP programs administered by USAID, two of the programs are based at UC Davis — the Hort CRSP program, and the BASIS CRSP, which was highlighted in a recent Food Blog post and addresses financial issues related to agricultural productivity.

UC Davis microbiologist David Mills received a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to test whether certain milk sugars can prevent life-threatening diarrheal diseases in young children. Globally, these gastrointestinal infections are the second leading cause of death among children under the age of five, each year killing 1.5 million children.

Mills, an authority on the molecular biology of lactic acid bacteria used in foods, said, “We will examine the ability of these compounds from milk to prevent gastrointestinal infections and to establish healthy bacteria in the intestines.” He and his colleagues are working to move the basic research toward practical applications in human health.

Earlier research has shown that similar oligosaccharides in human breast milk play an important role in supporting growth of protective bacteria in babies’ digestive tracts. Such bacteria are known to minimize the risk and severity of diarrheal disease and other gastrointestinal infections in infants.

The UC Davis researchers are hopeful that milk from cows will provide an abundant source of oligosaccharides that have comparable therapeutic characteristics for young children who are no longer breast-feeding.

Mills noted that if the researchers’ hypothesis proves correct, they plan to explore how oligosaccharides can be incorporated in a healthful, cost-effective manner into various food products designed for nutritional therapy and for use in international famine and malnutrition relief efforts.

UC researchers who created Nutributter and tested it successfully in several African nations are now preparing to reformulate and evaluate the dietary supplement for Bangladesh and Guatemala. The research aims to determine whether specially developed Nutributter can prevent stunting and abnormal motor development in a variety of cultures where children are at risk for malnutrition.

The Africa Nutributter studies found that children preferred a sweet paste, but the scientists believe regional flavors may make the supplement more appealing. For Guatemala, they plan a cinnamon-flavored Nutributter; for Bangledesh, the paste will be flavored with cumin and cardamom.

UC Davis nutrition professor Kathryn Dewey, who leads the project, said it remains to be seen whether Nutributter will be adapted for American consumers.

“I personally think it is marketable,” she said.

Each four-teaspoon serving of Nutributter paste, which comes in a ketchup-packet-like pouch, contains 40 essential vitamins and minerals. Unlike most other nutrient supplements, the product also provides 120 calories of energy plus protein and essential fatty acids. Nutributter is not meant as a replacement for local foods or breast milk, but rather to be added to youngsters’ and pregnant mothers’ traditional diets.

"More than 3 million children die each year of malnutrition due not just to a lack of calories, but also to poor diet quality, particularly insufficient intake of micronutrients like zinc and iron, which are so critical to healthy growth and development," Dewey said.

The idea for the nutrition supplement came from the successful use of Plumpy'nut, a peanut-based food developed by French researchers for famine relief. Each Plumpy-nut packet has 500 calories and children can gain 1 to 2 pounds a week by eating it twice daily. Plumpy-nut is meant to temporarily serve as the sole food source in emergency situations.

The UC Davis Nutributter team heads the International Lipid-based Nutrient Supplements Project (iLiNS). Last year, the project won a $16 million Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant. A 2008 UC Davis news release announcing the Gates Foundation grant gives more details about Nutributter and its use in African nations. More information is also available on the iLiNS Web site.